Daily Archives

3 March, 2012

BBC – The “fiscal compact” aims to prevent the 17 eurozone states running up huge debts like those which sparked the Greek, Irish and Portuguese bailouts. To take effect, the pact must be ratified by 12 eurozone states. UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who with the Czechs refused to sign, said the summit had accepted his ideas for cutting red tape and boosting growth. Read article

AP – Two American soldiers were killed Thursday in a shooting by an Afghan soldier and a literacy teacher at a joint base in southern Afghanistan, officials said, the latest in a series of deaths as anti-Americanism rises following the burning of Qurans by U.S. soldiers. Both were killed on the same day that the top NATO commander allowed a small number of foreign advisers to return to work at Afghan ministries after more than a week of being locked down in secure locations because of the killing of two other Americans.

BBC – A major base of Somalia’s al-Shabab militants has been captured on the outskirts of the capital by government troops backed by African Union forces. “This operation is necessary to consolidate the security of Mogadishu,” AU commander Maj Gen Fred Mugisha said as the offensive began. AU and government forces took control of most of Mogadishu last year. Read Article

Independent – New archaeological evidence suggests that America was first discovered by Stone Age people from Europe – 10,000 years before the Siberian-originating ancestors of the American Indians set foot in the New World. Read Article

Epoch Times – In a resolution by the European Parliament and in statements by European officials and civil rights organizations, Russia has been censured for banning the book of a Chinese spiritual practice—a measure it took, observers say, as a result of pressure from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On Jan. 20, a resolution was passed in the full European Parliament expressing “deep concern” about the misuse of anti-extremism legislation in Russia, including the “improper banning” of the spiritual literature of Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong. Read Article

Reuters – A new review of U.S. data on prostate cancer finds that despite established guidelines, a growing number of men who should not be getting aggressive treatment are getting it anyway. Men with low-risk tumors and a life-expectancy of less than 10 years — for instance, men in their 80s or 90s — are not candidates for so-called curative therapies like radiation or prostate surgery because there’s little evidence it would benefit them. Read article

BBC – Hundreds of angry protesters have booed French President Nicolas Sarkozy, forcing him to take shelter in a bar as he campaigned in the Basque country ahead of April’s presidential election. Some in the crowd then threw eggs at the bar guarded by riot police in the south-western town of Bayonne. Mr Sarkozy described the protesters – Basque nationalists and supporters of his rival Socialist candidate Francois Hollande – as “hooligans”. Read article

BBC – A suicide bomber has killed at least 20 people, believed to be militants of the Lashkar-e-Islam group, in north-west Pakistan, officials say. The Taliban said the suicide bombing was a revenge attack. There have been sporadic clashes between the groups. The blast in Khyber tribal agency came hours after 10 soldiers and at least 22 Lashkar-e-Islam militants were killed in clashes in the same area. Read Article

Bloomberg – China’s stocks rose, capping the benchmark index’s longest weekly winning streak since 2009, amid speculation the government may introduce policies to support economic growth at a national congress next week. Hisense Electric Co. (600060) and Qingdao Haier Co. (600690) led an advance among home appliance makers, bolstered by optimism government stimulus will raise consumer demand. Read Article

A right to education has been created and recognized by the European Convention on Human Rights and, at the global level, the United Nations’ International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantees this right. Despite this edict, education in its broadest, is still not consistently mapped out or provided in even the most developed of nations. For a comprehensive view of world news about Education; its institutions, policies and methodologies read our news archive of 390 articles. CLICK HERE

AP – Federal health officials have approved the first vaccine that protects against four strains of the common flu, offering one additional layer of protection against the influenza virus that affects millions each year. The FluMist Quadrivalent vaccine from AstraZeneca’s MedImmune unit protects against two strains of influenza A and two strains of influenza B. The Food and Drug Administration approved the spray-based vaccine for people ages 2 to 49. Read article

Washington Post – New York City’s Police Department is facing mounting criticism of its secret surveillance of Muslims across the Northeast, with ACLU chapters and numerous other groups demanding an investigation and New Jersey’s governor accusing the NYPD of arrogantly acting as if “their jurisdiction is the world.” Read Article

Reuters – Eating chocolate is not only a treat for the tongue — it may also have some tangible benefits for heart health, such as lowering blood pressure slightly, according to a study involving more than a thousand people. The study, which combined the results of 42 smaller studies and was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also found that participants had small improvements in blood vessel function and a dip in their insulin levels. Read article

Bloomberg – Afghanistan will start accepting investor offers next week to explore for at least 600 million barrels of crude oil in the western half of the Afghan-Tajik Basin, the country’s mining minister said. The auction beginning March 7 will cover six blocks in the basin, located in the country’s north, and will include rights for exploration and production, Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said yesterday in an interview in Washington. Read Article

CNN – The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s defense minister for 41 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in the Darfur region. Abdelrahim Mohamed Hussein is wanted for actions ranging from August 2003 to March 2004 in Darfur, where rebels have fought government forces and allied militiamen such as the Janjaweed since 2003. Read Article

ScienceDaily — Slowing or preventing the development of Alzheimer’s disease, a fatal brain condition expected to hit one in 85 people globally by 2050, may be as simple as ensuring a brain protein’s sugar levels are maintained. That’s the conclusion seven researchers, including David Vocadlo, a Simon Fraser University chemistry professor and Canada Research Chair in Chemical Glycobiology, make in the latest issue of Nature Chemical Biology. Read article

ScienceDaily — Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have made a surprising discovery about the origin of diabetes. Their research suggests that problems controlling blood sugar — the hallmark of diabetes — may begin in the intestines. The new study, in mice, may upend long-held theories about the causes of the disease. Because insulin is produced in the pancreas and sugar is stored in the liver, many scientists have looked to those organs for the underlying causes of diabetes. Read article

BBC – Russia and China, who vetoed two previous Security Council resolutions on Syria, are also backing the call for Baroness Amos to be allowed in. It comes as the rebel Free Syrian Army said it was withdrawing from the Baba Amr district of Homs, which has been under siege for nearly a month. Read article

Reuters – European Union leaders argued on Thursday over the right balance between budget austerity and reviving lost growth at the first summit for two years in which the euro zone debt crisis did not eclipse all else. After their finance ministers gave provisional approval to a second bailout for Greece, and a flood of cheap European Central Bank funds calmed bond markets, the 27 leaders used the breathing space to focus on structural economic reforms and other ways to combat record unemployment. Read Article

Associated Press – The U.N.’s top human rights body voted Thursday to condemn Syria for its “widespread and systematic violations” against civilians in a violent crackdown on opposition groups, as more western governments closed their embassies in Damascus over worsening security. Members of the U.N. Human Rights Council approved a resolution proposed by Turkey with 37 votes in favor and three — Russia, China and Cuba — voting against. Three members of the 47-nation body abstained and four didn’t vote. Read Article